Two Monastic Account Rolls

Summary

These two account rolls for the Augustinian houses of Newnham and Harrold were preserved with the documents of the Boteler family, who at the dissolution of the monasteries obtained some of the property concerned.

The Newnham roll, 1519-20.

The first is that of the cellarer for Newnham. It follows the usual form: charge; allowance; and remains (receipts, expenditure and balance).

The charge is of three kinds: the balance from the year before called “the old remains” or in this roll “the arrears”; regular receipts, which should not vary much and are checked with the terrier (schedule of property); casual and variable receipts. In the original roll the various separate sums in the charge are repeated in the lefthand margin; while the totals are given on the right. This double entry probably facilitated checking, but there is in fact an error under income of St. Paul’s church. The roll is less detailed than such of the terriers as have survived, and the amounts given under similar headings are often different in the terrier and the account.

The allowance consists of regular and casual payments; this also has two mistakes.

The roll gives the date of the installation of John Asshewell as prior. He is also named in a deed of 20 August 1515 which grants certain commonable rights to the corporation of Bedford.

John Salpho was cellarer for some years, and is mentioned by George Joye as “your brother celerar called Johan Berde or Johan Salpho, a man of lyke learnyng, and coulde beter skyl in makyng of a pease cake then in alledgyng of Holy Scrypture”. Joye’s Letters relate to 1527 or shortly before, and the volume was printed at Strassburg about 1535.